Title

Erosion fun

Broad Question

Which material best prevents erosion?

Specific Question

Does type of natural material prevent erosion?

Hypothesis

rocks will prevent erosion a little better than clay, and much more than sand, and less than dirt

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable:

Sand,Clay, Dirt, Rocks

Dependent Variable:

Erosion

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

Water, Model

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

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General Plan

Identify four types of natural material, put one in a plastic tray, and calmly let water flow by the material twice, measure material and repeat with other materials.

Potential Problems And Solutions

how to measure materials, measure material eroded into opposite end. gathering materials.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

n/a

Experimental Design

What is your experimental unit?

This is the base unit of your experiment, for example, one plant, one ice cube, one dish. It is the thing you will be measuring.

Number Of Trials:

4

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:

In the trial 2

Number of Observations:

8

When data will be collected

3/13-3/15

Where will data be collected?:

In Mr. Littlefield's room

Resources and Budget Table

Item	Number needed	Where I will get this	Cost
	sand		$1
	clay		?
	dirt		$1
	rocks		n/a
	plastic enclosure		$6
	other		$4
	silicone jell		$3

Detailed Procedure

1.gather materials
2. place plastic container on a wedge of incline 1' to 12' pitch
3. pack 1/2 snowball mold with material
4. place packed materials into center of container
5.pour one gallon of water into resevour
6.release water
7. gather material eroded
8.let dry
9.record data
10. repeat again with other materials.

Diagram

Photo List

before, during, after

Time Line

3/1/13 experiment done. 3/7/13 analysis done. 3/15/13 discussion done.

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Data Table

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Data Analysis

All Raw Data

Each material was measured using the same form. the water was directed down toward the materials at a 6 pitch (every 6 inches of decline resulted in 1 foot)

Graphs

Photos

Results

Sand completely eroded in nine seconds.
The dirt/soil completely eroded in twenty three seconds
The rocks were completely in tack just how they were placed.

Conclusion

The sand was unable to stop eroding,it took only 9, seconds before it was completely gone. The dirt was better but still not effective for stopping the water erosion. The rocks were the the best at preventing erosion.

Discussion

Benefit to Community and/or Science

the benefit to the community is that it will help people that have land next to rivers like the Saco.

Background Research

Erosion is the process that breaks things down. Erosion is the breakdown of the continents and the land around you.Weathering and erosion always happen in a downhill direction.
water is the most common erosion technique we see here in NH. Most commonly we see it in rivers and streams also during thaw.
In streams, water is a very powerful erosional agent. The faster water moves in streams the larger objects it can pick up and diposit. This is known as critical erosion velocity. Fine sand can be moved by streams flowing as slowly as three-quarters of a mile per hour.
Streams erode their banks in three different ways: 1. the hydraulic action of the water itself moves the sediments, 2.water acts to corrode sediments by removing ions and dissolving them, and 3. particles in the water strike bedrock and erode it.
The water of streams can erode in three different places: 1. lateral erosion erodes the sediment on the sides of the stream channel, 2. down cutting erodes the stream bed deeper, and 3) head ward erosion erodes the channel upslope.
Erosion can create other land forms by the caring of sediment downstream towards the ocean. That sediment slowly builds up and creates new wetlands at the mouth of the river.

References

http://geography.about.com/od/physicalgeography/a/erosion.htm
http://www.geography4kids.com/files/land_erosion.html

Abstract

In NH we have trouble with flooding and the erosion of land due to melting and heavy rains. so I took four different materials that commonly used to prevent erosion of land due to melting and heavy rains so I took four different materials that are commonly used to prevent erosion and tested which one would stand up to flowing water best.